From FR-PS 967,995 a current feed is known that conveys current to the electrode by an annular current feed element and a cooling jacket with contact jaws. The current feed element has the same ohmic resistance in all cross sections. With this arrangement of the current feed for the electrodes of an electric smelting furnace in the area of the hearth, there is the disadvantage that the current in the electrode and in the current feed element is pushed in the direction of the furnace center. This leads to thermal overloading of individual current conductors and current feed conductors or to an uneconomical higher-grade design of the less-loaded conductors. Additionally, in this arrangement the current is unevenly fed to the electrode over the contact jaws. This leads to wear and tear on the contact jaws and also to possible damage to the electrode.